If you are lucky enough to have a cottage in Muskoka, there’s a good chance it’s among your favourite places on Earth. Even so, it’s possible that there’s a whole other side to your property that you’re keeping hidden: a side that can only come out after dark. Landscape lighting is the art of transforming a property through the art of illumination. By day, it goes unnoticed, but like a moonflower, it emerges after nightfall as something truly enchanting.
“Landscape lighting is in some ways the crowning detail of a property,” says Chris Shirchenko, owner-designer of homegrown award-winning landscape lighting company Nightscapes of Muskoka. “When properly designed and installed, not only does it bring Hollywood glamour, it extends our days by inviting us outdoors in the evenings, where we can have a whole different experience of the incredible Muskoka landscape.” Professionally designed landscape lighting draws the eye to the natural and architectural highlights of your property, giving it depth, elegance, and visual intrigue.
While outdoor lighting has, of course, been around for centuries, Chris says that technology has evolved the landscape illumination industry quickly. “I’ve been in this business for over twenty years now,” he says, “and the scale of change is really mind-blowing. We’ve put so much control into the hands of homeowners to curate their experience.” Today, Chris’s clients can maintain a consistent daily lighting program and, when they choose to, use a simple app to select their preferences from a customized menu that allows them to adjust aspects like dimming and colour. Chris and his team program themes so that the client merely selects the desired theme for a particular occasion and moves on, similar to the way they would choose a playlist for the evening’s music. This remote programmability also allows the property owner to maintain control over the lighting system when they’re not home, an asset for security.
The impetus for many people to install outdoor lighting is concern for safety. After the sun goes down, rocky, uneven terrain can make for treacherous travel between the cottage and the dock, the driveway and the cottage, or between outdoor living spaces. This is especially true for small children and those unsteady on their feet. To guard against trips and falls, Chris and his team design rolling, ambient lighting around pathways so that there’s never pitch darkness between path lights. “In these cases, we’ll often employ moonlighting by setting soft lights in nearby trees,” explains Chris. “It allows us to illuminate the pathway without either glare or hard shadows.” For the professionals at Nightscapes of Muskoka, the challenge—and the reward—lies in meeting these practical needs while at the same time elevating the experience of the property for the homeowners.
To observe the guidelines established by the District of Muskoka Lakes dark sky by-law, landscape lighting must meet standards that limit glare and reduce light pollution—an objective we can all get behind. “Since safety and elegance have always been our two compass points,” says Chris, “we have never incorporated harsh lighting or allowed for light trespass in our designs.” Rather, they control lumen output by keeping the light gentle at an entirely adequate maximum of four watts, though path and dock lighting usually require only three watts, and deck lighting no more than two. “It’s important to keep the light gentle,” Chris explains. “It’s safer, it’s much more pleasing to the eye, and it allows us and all our fellow Muskokans to look up and enjoy the spectacle of a starry night sky.”
The region’s longest-operating landscape lighting designer and installer, Nightscapes of Muskoka is unique in its expertise, its artistry, and its singularity of focus. “We’re not going to offer to build your retaining wall or landscape your property,” says Chris. “Landscape lighting is our passion. It’s what we do. It’s all we do.” With that passion, they’ve made a fine art of landscape illumination, one that has earned them very high praise from their clientele. “The greatest compliment we get,” says Chris, “is when we see the way people light up the first time they see their property illuminated.”
One of the most impressive aspects of their work is that Chris and his team leave behind so little trace. Wires are buried, hidden, or camouflaged, and fixtures are installed with precision to blend into the landscape and architecture. For anyone about to build a new cottage, the ideal time to involve Nightscapes of Muskoka is at the architectural and landscape planning stage, but over the years they have become expert at retrofitting lighting fixtures into existing structures and making it look like it’s been there all along.
Landscape lighting isn’t necessarily a one-and-done process, either. “We have several clients who add to their installations over the years,” says Chris. “Maybe they have a new feature they’d like to illuminate, or grandchildren have come onto the scene and they’re more concerned about safety.” Regardless of the reason, Nightscapes of Muskoka sees every project as an opportunity to enhance the after-dark beauty and mystique of the property. “We don’t just add a new light,” says Chris, “rather, we step back to see the big picture so we’re making the whole effect cohesive.” It’s that combination of visual intelligence and technical artistry that has Nightscapes of Muskoka reintroducing cottagers to their properties in entirely new—and utterly charming—ways.
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